Friday, 3 June 2011

On the 19th May 2011, an ‘emergency’ meeting was called to appoint new members of the NCC and it was to be conducted in a clear open and transparent manner. It was also to be supervised by ‘impartial’ members of the Party acting as observers. Sounds great.

Except it was anything of the sort, this was a fairly unsophisticated attempt to put a thin veneer of respectability on a crude coup based on smears.

One of the officers being proposed was not actually a member of the Libertarian Party, and neither was one of the impartial observers. Yet gamely they ploughed on proposing each other as officers of the party without a shred of legitimacy or even pretending that any of the proceedings were in line with the constitution.

Everything had the blessing of the Electoral Commission it was stated. One member of the NCC actually asked direct questions as to the legitimacy of the observers and of the proceedings only to be fobbed off .

Ken Ferguson who was still under a motion to remove him as Communications Director for breaches of the Data Protection Act was acting as ringmaster and allowed to vote. Ferguson rushed the ‘good news’ of the new appointments online, before the minutes were even drafted, congratulations all round (despite nobody being willing to accept the poisoned chalice of being treasurer)

Except just one fly in the ointment, a call from the Electoral Commission allegedly saying that due to poor Parliamentary dafting (??) the registered officers remained the same, and unless the transfer of officers was in line with the procedures of PPERA, the Act that governs registered political parties, the ‘new NCC‘ would be rejected by the Electoral Commission. And they were.

The small group around Ferguson, who now sees himself as leader in waiting, have been a little shy of announcing this gaffe that they discovered for themselves after having been repeatedly told that they were acting unconstitutionally on the 20th May. So currently the LPUK is a ghost ship, with various proposals to rip up the constitution and turn it into everything from an internet party to a committee led workers collective that will certainly ensure its rapid demise.

Various requests to turn the donation button back on and put moderation on the site to prevent further defamation and harassment were met by a blank refusal by the 'communications' director.

The truth is that the NCC announced by Ferguson had no validity has been known since the 20th May. The open and transparent ‘new leadership’ has decided not to make this public.

With no income and memberships flowing into the new unauthorised account, which is not declared as an accounting unit to the Electoral Commission, the insolvency situation has become even worse.

Faced with a blank refusal by Ferguson to stay within the constitution, together with electoral and civil law, and in line with Ferguson’s proposed ‘new constitution’ that suggests that registered officers will have no power, but are simply there to carry the can personally for breaches of of those laws, coupled with the suggestion that the party does not need more than £200 a year just to run his website, the Nominations Officer yesterday decided to call it a day and do the decent thing, and publish a public apology.

Except of course there was no way that this was ever going to be published on the LPUK website whilst under the control of the ‘Communications Director’, whose sole aim appears to be only to communicate what is acceptable to him and censor the rest.

The membership lists were handed over yesterday to the remaining registered officers and the following apology was made by Simon Fawthrop.

An Apology To Andrew Withers, the NCC, Membership and Supporters.

I want to make an apology to Andrew Withers, he is and always has been Party Leader as recognised by the EC and relevant legislation and the Party Constitution and I had no right to try to elect a new Leader and Treasurer. I also wish to apologise to the NCC and the wider membership and supporters for misleading you all about the position of Party Leader and Treasurer, I was wrong and it was not in my power to seek to fill those positions that I thought were vacant.

It was my misunderstanding that Andrew had resigned as Party Leader and that we needed to appoint a new Leader and Treasurer to be compliant with the relevant legislation. I now know that Andrew had not resigned and, furthermore, cannot resign. This means that Andrew is and always has been Party Leader and, with the resignation of John Watson, Treasurer.

As such the NCC meeting that I convened to find replacements for Treasurer and Leader was against the letter of the Constitution and means those NCC elections are not and have never been valid.

Obviously having been so wrong I cannot continue in any capacity within the Party and I have informed Andrew that I am resigning with immediate effect as Data Officer and Membership Secretary. Furthermore, I will step down as Nominations Officer as soon as a replacement is found. I am sure there are many members willing to take on those vital roles.

Once again, I apologise to Andrew and those I have misled and I wish you all well for the future.

Regards,
Simon

This is great shame as Simon has been a consistent and effective membership secretary for over two years, yet again another officer forced out by a small cabal who maintain that they are for openness, transparency and the continuance of the Libertarian Party, but act in exactly the opposite manner. This situation has been known to them for nearly two weeks.

The South West Branch has organised a meeting of its members on the 18th June to try an map out a proposed future for the party, the Scottish branch are doing the same in July.

Clearly things cannot go on as they are, the insolvency caused by the deliberate cutting off of funds needs to be urgently addressed or the party de registered. If it is to continue it may need to be restructured into a federal model. Clearly the ‘internet party’ has to cease.

What is certain is that the SGM to change the constitution called for 18th June 2011 has no validity constitutionally and would not be recognised by the Electoral Commission.

As the existing registered officers have only a short term intention to stay in office to either attend to funeral arrangements or to seek a more viable model for the lpuk to exist, within its constitution and comply with electoral law, the future of LPUK still remains uncertain.

Saturday, 22 January 2011

I was in the new Bristol shopping centre with my youngest son who is back from University for the weekend. There was a bit of a commotion going out side Barclays, by Anarchists for more State Intervention (Anarchists ??)

After a lot of pushing and shoving with the Police they decided to target Lloyds Bank next, then Nationwide (this is a mutual not a bank you idiots) then they started running through the shopping centre yelling and shouting for what they were worth, an activity called steaming, this resulted in some other ne'erdowells joining in and shops starting to close their doors in case the guardians of the revolution decided to liberate their goods.

Without a hint of irony, members of the Socialist Workers Party stood by trying to sell their newspapers. The latest in fashionable chic is apparently a Palestinian scarf (denotes level of righteousness) a soviet era military fur hat with cap badge whilst shouting for freedom (remember gulags) and troops out of Afghanistan (Soviet troops being ok in Afghanistan then) topped off with a Serbian army surplus wintercoat (don't even go there)

As Lenin said 'useful fools'.

Highlight of the day - Anarchist withdrawing £50 from HSBC cash point, without the hint of irony.

Friday, 10 December 2010

Yesterday evening I was on the 'frontline' of the end of the failed
fabian experiment in Westminster. The dregs of the student protests were
still being kettled, Police had helicopters up, tube stations closed
and vans full of back up, yet they still managed to drive a couple of
VIP's into the middle of this maelstrom of heightened emotions.

This morning Boris and Stephenson of the Met were having a discussion
on Radio 4 about yesterday, was it just me or was Stephenson making a
lot of threats about how 'tooled up' his men were. Was he seriously
advocating that the Met start shooting protestors ?

I saw bizarre sights such as 'anarchists' demanding more state subsidy for education. How does that work then ?

Labour created a massive expansion of the State that was built on
nothing more than a bubble, to have 50% of the young 'doing a degree'
was only going to devalue standards and to damage the marketability of
having a degree. There is nothing left that the hard pressed taxpayer
can contribute to a 'bust' state. What we saw on the streets was nothing
more that demanding money with menaces, and Labour were at the front of
this egging it on, as usual bearing no responsibility for their
actions.

Meanwhile at the National Liberal Club a quiet revolution was occuring organised by the Cobden Centre.Libertarians, Members of the Adam Smith Institute
and other representatives of Classical Liberal organisations met for an
informal social event to make contacts, talk and make futue plans. The
talk was was of honest money, Mises and Hayek and of course the failingEuro experiment.

The keynote speech was by Conservative MP Steve Baker, one of the few 'good guys'.

Saturday, 27 November 2010

The Libertarian Party annual AGM and Conference is taking place today in London. The following press release was issued at 12.00 today.

Acceptance of Party Leader of the Libertarian Party by Andrew Withers

I would like to thank the Party for the confidence that it has shown in me in electing me unopposed. It is with regret that I cannot take up the post until we have resolved the the extraordinary decision by the Secretary of State Dr Vince Cable on the 12th November 2010 that he objects to me being Party Leader, Treasurer or Tea-boy in the Libertarian Party.

In his eyes I am unfit to do so without supervision from his department. Mr Cable was given until 4pm yesterday via his solicitors Osborne Clarke, to withdraw his extraordinary objection from the Bristol District Registry, as he has no powers in Law over the Libertarian Party according to both his own Counsel and Counsel that has volunteered its time on behalf of the Party. I have to tell you no such undertaking has been received, to use a phrase.

All that was received was a letter that informed me yesterday, it was up to me to withdraw this from the Court, being a very simple person I did not understand the logic of this. I was instructed by a District Judge to include all of the organisations here,in America, in South Africa, in France that I am an executive member of. This includes charitable, political, blogs etc etc. Vince Cable's boys just objected to the lot without fear or favour on the 12th November.

Liam Fox MP, my local MP asked to be kept informed of all developments following his attempts to get Mandelson and now Vince Cable to drop this sorry saga after nearly five years. Incredibly my friends, the District Judge ordered a telephone conference to be heard on Dec 3rd to settle the issues at dispute. Vince's boys so far have objected to the telephone conference call, and refused to comply with another Court Order. As a party that believes in the supremacy of the rule of law, it is only right and proper that we await the directions of the Court on December 3rd, and that Vince Cable explains to the Court the reasons why on grounds of national security, public safety or in the interests of democracy he can overturn the will of members of the Libertarian Party and Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

I will remain Leader Designate.

Why are we here, a very small band of Libertarians formed into a party that will never in my lifetime seize office under this benighted system called Parliamentary Democracy.
We are here because we are right in philosophy. In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down because Stalinism and Communism had had its day and people wanted freedom, the banking crash built on a mountain of public debt has brought an end to bureaucratic socialism and public and private debt as a way of life.

Now is the age of Liberty, but it is going to be a long fight because vested interest from the three statist parties wish the merry go round to continue. Labour only just lost the election under a corrupt voting system, Con Demery is not going to last, and unless things change dramatically the Social Democrats are going to leave the crumpled warm bed of David Cameron into the soiled sheets of Labour, breaking promises as they go.

I am a Constitutionalist, I believe that none of us count because we have no recognition in Law as individuals because we have no Constitution. We are the neo serfs. The exchequer is broke, we are to be taxed out of recession, yet we are still fighting foreign wars and we are going to give Ireland £7Bn to save the eurozone ? Did anybody consult you ? Do you approve. Shut up- just give us the money.

How do they get away with this ? because the State has the monopoly of violence, we are all frightened of the State. Whereas the State should be frightened of us the voter.

De Menezes was a stain on our country, as was Iraq and Afghanistan. We have a Ministry of Defence not a Ministry of War ! Our troops are badly equipped, badly paid and neglected in old age and injury. The only legitimate function of the State is Defence of a free country. Politicians love being associated with the Military, it makes them look hard, the trouble is our civilian police force are playing more to the Force and less to the Civilian part of the equation. When did Dixon turn into Judge Dredd on our streets.

Libertarianism needs re-branding in the UK, the Stalinist left call us right wing, we are neither of the left or the right. David Nolan who tragically died last week put us on a different axis that of Liberty to Authoritarianism. We despise the big State who ever is running it in favour of minimal government that is local and accountable.

We have the obscenity of so called Anarchists taking part in violent demonstrations in favour of large state hand outs. These are not Anarchists, they are simple leftist thugs demanding by violence what they cannot achieve by the ballot box.

Yesterday Cameron issued his first D notice, these are issued in time of war. He is no longer an authoritarian virgin. The Libertarian Party must oppose both nationally and locally. We are small very small but perhaps history will show that we kept fanning the flames of classical Liberalism in a seventy year long downpour of bureaucratic socialism.

Saturday, 16 October 2010

Via Cranmer and Tom Paine this morning the inevitable story that Katherine Birbalsingh has been forced from her post for thought crime of actually doubting that the Fabian destruction of education is 'good' for children.

The Tories promised you change, but the dangerous politicised public servants and their weak bosses are still in post, fulminating against the inconvenience of the ballot box. There has been no change and they are being paid by you the tax payer.

As one of the few countries in the world that does not have a Constitution, Katherine is not afforded the right of free speech under the Constitution, and she could scamper off to Court to not only claim constructive dismissal and declare the action of the school unconstitutional.

Unless Cameron acts this morning to end this farce every teacher had better keep their political opinions to themselves.

Brown gone, Cameron arrives- The State still rules and the State is red in hue and claw.